Megan Youngren completed the 26.2 mile U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia among a record field of women, just one of three Alaskans to complete the grueling three lap course through Atlanta.
Youngren, from Soldotna, competed as the first transgender athlete to run in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, her status pending until the final list of runners was approved before race day. Youngren clocked a time of 2:50:27 about six minutes off her qualifying time of 2:43:52. The qualifying standard for the U.S. trials was 2:50.0. Youngren finished 230th out of 390 women to complete the course from a field of nearly 450 qualifiers.
Anchorage’s Anna Dalton placed 212th in the women’s race and Fairbanks runner Tony Tomsich placed 102nd in the men’s field of 175 finishers.
The top three runners automatically qualify to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in July representing the United States.
Women’s Qualifiers include:
1. Aliphine Tuliamuk — 2:27:23
2. Molly Seidel — 2:27:31
3. Sally Kipyego — 2:28:52
Men’s Qualifiers include:
1. Galen Rupp — 2:09:20
2. Jacob Riley — 2:10:02
3. Abdi Abdirahman — 2:10:03
